06.11.2007

• Communist China’s company is the world’s most valuable company!!
• What a contrast? Petrochina beat Exxon Mobil in valuations and became the world’s first company worth more than $1 trillion.
• This follows Petrochina’s shares tripling in value on the very first day of their trading in Shanghai following an IPO that raised 66.8 bn yuan.
• China, US to set up military hotline
• Amid US apprehensions on China’s military modernization, the two countries agreed to establish a defence hotline and deepen military-to- military dialogue, including on nuclear policy strategy and doctrine.
• This is the first hotline ever established by China with any country.
• Railways to go high-tech with control charting system
• Estimated to cost Rs. 86 crores, this IT enabled system monitors and controls the movement of all trains across the country. Till now the system for announcement and departure of trains was disjointed as the data had to be fed manually, causing a considerable time gap.
• KS Sastry Committee
• It has recommended that the insurance regulator should mandate licensed health insurers to provide all senior citizens access to health insurance, implying universal coverage.
• IRDA, acting on this recommendation has mandated accordingly. Therefore people of 65 years and below – and those above 65 years at the discretion of the insurer – should now be allowed by insurers into health insurance system. The only exception is terminally ill cases.
• Food shortage alarm
• It is good editorial that appeared in today’s ET. Read it in full here.
• Since the mid-1990’s there is a stagnation in global agricultural production.
• India’s agrarian order is primarily subsistence based, where the average farm size is 4 acres.
• While efforts at land consolidation should be pressed on in the longer term, what needs to be done in the medium to short term is to figure out ways by which small farms can increase their productivity. Simple and low-cost technological innovations such as gravity-fed drip irrigation kits, and human-operated treadle pumps can reportedly increase the earnings of quarter-acre farms by as much as Rs. 22,000 a year.
• ICICI Bank fined Rs. 50 lakh for employing goons as recovery agents
• The Delhi Consumer Commission has fined the bank and deplored the practice of intimidation resorted to by banks for affecting recoveries of loans.
• It said that there was a civil legal remedy for recovering loans. Employing goons for this was beyond the parameter of the law.
• Why is there no panic in the context of crude prices touching the $100 mark per barrel?
• One expert’s view is that unlike in the 1970’s when there was a supply crisis, this time it is not the supply crisis that is taking crude prices higher. It is more a reflection of strong economic cycle (demand). Hence this is not likely to be seen as an ‘oil shock’ as was the case in 1970’s.
• Citigroup announces Robert E Rubin as its next Chairman
• Following the resignation of Charles Prince, the bank announced that Robert Rubin, the former US Treasury Secretary will be chairing the beleaguered bank.
• Pakistan: having a tiger by the tail
• It is a very good op-ed piece that appeared in The Hindu today.
• Recommend reading it at least once.
• Are the days of advertising coming to an end?
• In the context of the companies finding new ways to connect directly to customers, some are asking the question “Who needs advertising?”
• Media experts are suggesting that the explosion of online interactive media such as blogs and social networking sites are taking the companies ever closer to the customer. This phenomenon is bound to negatively impact the advertising industry.
• Worldwide ad spend is reportedly about $448 bn per annum.
• Online ad spends are growing at about 19% per annum globally.